Malia Riggs
Elmore Autauga News
The Old Autauga Historical Society, or OAHS, hosted their first quarterly meeting last Saturday, Jan. 13 at the Autauga County Probate Court Office where the records room was available until 3 p.m. to members Saturday.
The Probate records room and vault were opened with the help of Autauga County Probate Judge Kim Kervin, who was in attendance, and the Autauga Genealogical Society (AGS).
The meeting covered the vast history of the four Autauga County courthouses and the elected officials that would have served and spent time in the county buildings and courthouses that were researched for the meeting. For instance, Old Washington, was an early settlement located on the Alabama River at Autauga Creek. The Old Washington courthouse was built in 1820 before Alabama was a state.
“I’ve always been interested in history, even as a small child,” President of the Old Autauga Historical Society Larry Caver said.
A spin off of the Alabama Bicentennial Campaign, OAHS started in January of 2020. “A gang of us got together and wanted to be more proactive. We wanted to get involved. Not just getting together and reading off the internet, we wanted to do it locally,” Caver said.
OAHS has about 300 members and meets quarterly in January, April, July and October, on the second Saturday of the month at 10 a.m. at different historical locations in Autauga County for each meeting. Membership dues are $10 a year.
“We have members that love to do all kinds of different things. Some like to work with our cemetery projects, others research and things like that,” Caver said.
Some members are more active than others. Caver stated that they have two preservation projects going on right now. One is the Old Mulberry Schoolhouse, which is the last and oldest surviving one-room schoolhouse in Autauga County. The second, is the Vine Hill Presbyterian Church near Jones, which still has a lot of the original architectural structures intact.
OAHS also raises money to help get VA markers for veterans in the local cemeteries in Autauga County after OAHS surveys the cemetery.
In some of the historically black cemeteries that OAHS have surveyed in Autauga County, they’ve found members laid to rest within that cemetery that were veterans.
“We’d discover that some members were veterans and entitled to a marker. So, we did the application and got the VA marker. One of them was William Nixon and he was the only black soldier from Autauga County to serve in the Spanish American War in the 1890s. We got his marker installed for his service,” Caver said.
Caver stated if prospective members are interested that they can mail their dues in the form of a cash or check to PO box 622 Autaugaville, 36033. To follow along with what OAHS is doing, Caver stated they have a member only Facebook group, however, Caver posts personally on his own Facebook and makes it public.
For more information about OAHS, email larrycaver@yahoo.com
